Speed is Meta??

[Shiro]

I am seeing a trend here when it comes to meta. Speed is incredibly valuable unless you are a tank like hector or effie. So what is the point of using other heroes like Ephriam who, even though he has insane attack he gets doubled way too easily and is replaced by a hero like effie who cant get double shot.

[Elieson]

6 minutes ago, Shiro said:

I am seeing a trend here when it comes to meta. Speed is incredibly valuable unless you are a tank like hector or effie. So what is the point of using other heroes like Ephriam who, even though he has insane attack he gets doubled way too easily and is replaced by a hero like effie who cant get double shot.

For your own personal enjoyment?

[Avestus]

Effie doens't have buffs/debuffs on her. Ephriam has. And she is very slow (in terms of movement) which can mean death in arena. I take her for stats but if i didn't have to maximize my team's rank i would've preferred somone different. I also place main emphasis on speedy Tharja under buffs but in Tower I use other startegies, some relying more on heal (Lissa) and defence. Don't forget that some units have breakers even with not decent speed. For example, Abel has both brave lance and swordbreaker which means he can 4x sword users efficiently.

Well, speed is valuable, no objection, but this game has so many different synergies that I wouldn;t say it's about speed or any other stat. Everything is about synergy in your team... unless you got four 5* Takumis, lol. 

Edited February 20, 2017 by Avestus

[Ether]

I mean, not everyone has every unit, so sometimes you'll have to use someone who isn't optimal. Ephraim is good at countering sword lords, but not much else. If you need a sword lord counter, Ephraim works fine. He is definitely worse than Effie, but Effie is among the best lancers available right now.

[Shiro]

3 minutes ago, Avestus said:

Effie doens't have buffs/debuffs on her. Ephriam has. And she is very slow (in terms of movement) which can mean death in arena. I take her for stats but if i didn't have to maximize my team's rank i would've preferred somone different. I also place main emphasis on speedy Tharja under buffs but in Tower I use other startegies, some relying more on heal (Lissa) and defence. Don't forget that some units have breakers even with not decent speed. For example, Abel has both brave lance and swordbreaker which means he can 4x sword users efficiently.

Well, speed is valuable, no objection, but this game has so many different synergies that I wouldn;t say it's about speed or any other stat. Everything is about synergy in your team... unless you got four 5* Takumis, lol. 

I see effie as an asset if you dont have a hector on your team and i dont use tanks for defense cause that is just stupid but compared to ephraim they have similar stats in a sense but ephriam cant tank like effie can which concerns me and i find myself using a lot of high speed heroes just so i dont get doubled in arena. Effie also has a high rating of 183 so she gives more points as well. TBH i do hope they change the way arena works and see more variety where we dont have to depend on the highest rating heroes in your team.

[Fly_or_Die]

I'm pretty sure speed has always been extremely important in FE. A couple points speed can be the equivalent of doubling your ATK or DEF(if it means your unit doubles/doesn't get doubled).

There's a still a team variety issue though. If you run 4x glass cannon, you're going to have problems with teams with tanks (or even with other glass cannons).

[Ryuke]

In terms of importance. I'd say... enable to counter from any distance is META.

 

Then ... I would say ... high but not really high speed is meta. (say... 32-33 speed is probably safe)

After that its all on attack.

[eclipse]

1 hour ago, Shiro said:

I am seeing a trend here when it comes to meta. Speed is incredibly valuable unless you are a tank like hector or effie. So what is the point of using other heroes like Ephriam who, even though he has insane attack he gets doubled way too easily and is replaced by a hero like effie who cant get double shot.

Because my only non-mounted lancer is Donnel.

In other words, I work with what I've got, and right now, my lance pool is shaky.  If I pulled Ephraim, I'd train him immediately.

[randybutternubz]

I wouldnt say speed is the meta, but the launch focus heroes are,

I use 2 heroes with high speed and 2 heroes with lower speed but high damage. Sometimes you can one shot the heroes with just high damage over their higher speed

[Armadillo8]

Definitely not. Skills are such a huge factor. Even Alfonse, who probably has the shittiest speed in FE Heroes, can be an awesome unit. It depends on if you get Weapon-Triangled or not. Since avoid is not a thing, I'd rather say skills and doubling are the meta (or just oneshotting -> Alfonse), not raw Speed. Brave Weapon and skills who grant double attacks/speed (Breakers, Desparation, or just Defiant Speed and Hone Speed) are better than raw Speed imo (granted your other stats are better in exchane for a worse speed stat). In general, I prefer Attack over Speed simply because of scenarions where my unit gets Weapon-Traingled: Emphraim can at least do decent damage against an Axe Armor Knight, while a speedy sword characters for example will just get one shotted by a Lance Armor Knight. My 5-star Robin has 32 Speed (decent I'd say) and 29 Def. He won't double anything exept for Armor Knights, but when his HP fall under 50% he gets +7 Speed from Defiant Speed. His Defense is enough for him to actually survive most hits and his skill will allow him to double almost everything, excpet for Lyn and other Swordsmen (who get Weapon-Trianlged anyways).

Edited February 20, 2017 by Mariode

[Sire]

I personally value SPD because I find it an easier way to defeat most enemy heroes in one round. Since I also run a healer, any heavy damage they suffer is treated to, allowing them to continue on their merry onslaught.

However, SPD is not everything (and this includes Brave Weapon usage). Sometimes, enemies may have so much DEF or RES that it is far better using a "one-hit wonder" character than a speedster as even with doubling, that character does not do sufficient damage. Alternatively, the team may try to weaken foes before one-shotting them, preventing retaliation even if the team is on the slower side.

Also, it comes down to personal enjoyment. Sometimes, nothing is more satisfying than seeing a speedy unit deal 2 hits of 0 damage, all the while charging your special meter. I don't know how often this occurs in the Arena, but in the Training Tower, it is a fun little distraction.

There are probably ways to get a slow team to work efficiently in the Arena (with or without SPD buffs / debuffs), but it requires a lot of hero synergy and obtaining the heroes in the first place. Speedy characters are just more "generally useful" and "easier to use."

[Shiro]

28 minutes ago, Sire said:

I personally value SPD because I find it an easier way to defeat most enemy heroes in one round. Since I also run a healer, any heavy damage they suffer is treated to, allowing them to continue on their merry onslaught.

However, SPD is not everything (and this includes Brave Weapon usage). Sometimes, enemies may have so much DEF or RES that it is far better using a "one-hit wonder" character than a speedster as even with doubling, that character does not do sufficient damage. Alternatively, the team may try to weaken foes before one-shotting them, preventing retaliation even if the team is on the slower side.

Also, it comes down to personal enjoyment. Sometimes, nothing is more satisfying than seeing a speedy unit deal 2 hits of 0 damage, all the while charging your special meter. I don't know how often this occurs in the Arena, but in the Training Tower, it is a fun little distraction.

There are probably ways to get a slow team to work efficiently in the Arena (with or without SPD buffs / debuffs), but it requires a lot of hero synergy and obtaining the heroes in the first place. Speedy characters are just more "generally useful" and "easier to use."

hmmm ill keep that last part in mind thanks!

[Vaximillian]

8 hours ago, eclipse said:

Because my only non-mounted lancer is Donnel.

Why no love for Sharena? :(

[eclipse]

1 hour ago, Vaximillian said:

Why no love for Sharena? :(

Because she's almost always used as support, not fighting.  The same reason why I don't count Olivia as a sword unit.

[Lushen]

Speed is very useful.  But so is Ephraim and other slower characters.  First off, I've been able to 1v1 Effie with Ephraim despite her OP double attack.  His skill that fires every other turn increases his damage so much (and thats after he lowers her defense by 7).  Nowi is also a slow(er) character who still ends up winning from speedy units in some fights, though she's mostly a tank. 

I would say speed is more useful on arena defense than it is on arena offense.  In arena offense, you can control who attacks first and you can let them attack first (2x) and if you can survive then you get to try attacking twice (and you might be able to kill them with the extra atk stats you're getting from a lack of speed).  In arena defense you can't control this though so they can let you attack once and they get 3 hits to kill you (which is like guaranteed).  Non-speedy attackers have absolutely no place in arena defense (putting OP skill aside).  

I don't think arena defense really has a meta because you just need to get one win...because the system is dumb.  I'm hoping they make AD more important later.

Edited February 21, 2017 by Lushen